A new Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund report makes it clear that gun trafficking is big business for the gun industry, estimating that gun dealers made at least $695 million from the sale of trafficked firearms from 2017 to 2023. The report notes that the “vast majority of guns that end up trafficked begin as part of the inventory of a licensed gun dealer,” and that the “top two trafficking methods are straw purchasing and unlicensed dealing, which both involve illegal sales from a licensed gun dealer and account for more than half of all trafficked firearms.”
Gun trafficking in the United States fuels daily violence and crime across the country. Yet the Trump administration has raced to unwind federal oversight of the gun industry, all but inviting bad actors to endanger public safety. Fortunately, state actors can rush in to fill these dangerous gaps with new action that stands in for — and even improves on — the traditional crime-fighting role that the federal government appears to have abandoned.
federal law enforcement is standing down
Efforts in the Biden administration to take a smarter, data-driven approach to reducing gun trafficking led to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) shuttering hundreds of problematic gun dealers who had willfully violated federal law by failing to conduct background checks on customers, falsifying records, and refusing ATF inspections. This aggressive crime-fighting program, known as the “zero tolerance” policy, coincided with a dramatic drop in gun violence.
But the Trump administration has jettisoned this life-saving work. Not only did it rescind the zero-tolerance policy, but it also informed gun dealers who had their licenses revoked to reapply and resume selling firearms once again. The administration has also reassigned roughly 80 percent of the ATF’s 2,500 agents — including those trained to inspect gun dealers and investigate firearms trafficking — to immigration operations, and proposed drastic budget cuts that would paralyze the agency.
This regressive federal action removes important guardrails on the gun industry. But states can respond to Trump’s rollbacks by adopting a comprehensive strategy that includes identifying and disrupting trafficking rings, regulating gun dealers, and enacting foundational gun laws that deter trafficking. In this way, states can fill the void left by the dearth of federal oversight — and even raise the bar for anti-trafficking efforts.
Identifying and STOPPING GUN TRAFFICKERS
State and local law enforcement agencies already have access to a wealth of data that can help identify and disrupt key sources of trafficking in their communities. For example, when police trace a firearm recovered from a crime scene, they can develop crucial investigative leads that can help potentially identify the shooter and even the trafficker who armed them. But only 55 percent of law enforcement agencies across the U.S. currently trace crime guns, and even fewer enter recovered spent casings into the ATF’s National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), which can connect guns to specific shootings and provide investigative leads when firearms are used in multiple shootings.
Not only should states require that police trace recovered crime guns and enter spent casings into NIBIN, but they should also implement systems for police to use and share the information across jurisdictions and even state lines. With comprehensive tracing and a crime gun analytics platform, states can develop a targeted, intelligence-driven investigations model that allows law enforcement to focus limited resources on the gun dealers most responsible for enabling gun trafficking.
regulating gun dealers
States can also implement dealer licensing systems that incorporate the best elements of the federal system while simultaneously creating far stronger standards. For example, states can require gun dealers to physically lock up their firearms to prevent theft, record video of all sales, run background checks on all employees, and train staff to identify the warning signs of straw purchases — provisions that are all missing from federal requirements.
Additionally, states can also require that gun dealers digitize their transaction and inventory records, enabling law enforcement to more quickly and easily trace crime guns and identify trafficking patterns.
Fifteen states currently require gun dealers to obtain state licenses in addition to Federal Firearms Licenses, and many have instituted these important protections.
enacting foundational gun laws
While federal law only requires that licensed gun dealers run background checks on unlicensed customers, states can adopt laws that require background checks for all gun sales, regardless of the parties involved, as well as permitting systems. Twenty-two states have adopted these policies, which can help stop unlicensed dealing.
States can also establish mandatory waiting periods for gun sales to be completed and limit how many guns a person can buy each month. Both of these common-sense measures can help slow down and deter unlicensed dealers who buy and resell firearms in bulk.
An Opportunity to Innovate
States with the strongest gun laws have been passing and enforcing policies like these to stop the flow of illegal guns for years. But even those states should seize this opportunity to fill the gaps left by the Trump administration and federal law enforcement. For example, while Pennsylvania requires dealers to be licensed through the state, stronger enforcement of its laws can help reduce illegal gun sales to prohibited purchasers and prevent thefts of improperly stored firearms. Maryland can hold rogue gun dealers accountable by robustly applying its new statute establishing civil liability for firearm industry members who create a public nuisance through irresponsible business practices.
State attorneys general can also rigorously enforce their straw-purchasing prohibitions and publish information to help dealers better identify suspicious sales.
While the Trump administration’s rollbacks have hamstrung federal anti-trafficking efforts, states have several legislative and executive tools at their disposal to fill the vacuum left by the ATF. At the very least, states and localities can work together to share information and resources and create a large network of anti-trafficking intelligence, building an even broader net to catch bad actors in the gun industry.